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CheckPoint StrikeForce enforcement to be held Saturday

Delaware Office of Highway Safety

Delaware’s Office of Highway Safety is partnering with law enforcement agencies in all three counties on DUI enforcement this weekend.

 

Highway Safety, in conjunction with police, have four targeted DUI enforcements planned this year.

The agency’s marketing specialist and public information officer Mitch Topal says that includes three sobriety checkpoints this weekend.

“This is one for the summer. It’s going to start at 10 p.m. on Saturday the 14th and they’ll be

setup through about 2 a.m., which will actually move it into Sunday the 15th, early in the wee hours, which is typically the time we see the largest number of impaired drivers on the roads. Saturday night….people are out,” said Topal.

Topal says over 50 law enforcement officers will man the three sobriety checkpoints - one on Kirkwood Highway in Wilmington, one on Route 13 in Smyrna and another on Route 1 in Rehoboth Beach.

 

Topal says this Saturday’s “Summer Enforcement” coincides with higher arrests rates for drinking and driving seen in July.

“From 2013 through 2017, which is the last five years that we have full sets of data, we’ve had  a total of 1,839 arrests, 486 crashes and 24 DUI-related fatalities as a result of impaired driving. And this is just for July,” Topal said.

He says there will also be at least one Drug Recognition Expert at each checkpoint.

He urges everyone not to drink and drive. Instead he says use Uber or Lyft - and arrive home safely.

Kelli Steele has over 30 years of experience covering news in Delaware, Baltimore, Winchester, Virginia, Phoenix, Arizona and San Diego, California.